남북 이산가족 상봉 8월 20일부터 7일간 진행... 최종명단 8월 4일에 교환<br /><br /> Delegations from the the respective Red Cross organizations of two Koreas met once again today.<br />Top of the agenda was arranging reunions of separated families... and we are hearing that the dates of the family reunions have been finally determined.<br />Let's connect to our Unification Ministry correspondent, Oh Jung-hee,... who's following developments from Seoul's Office for Inter-Korean Dialogue.<br />Jung-hee, fill us in.<br /><br /> Daniel, it was a long day for the delegations of Seoul and Pyongyang.<br />Today's Red Cross Talks ended just less than an hour ago.<br />While the general session ended in only 45 minutes this morning, the delegations of the two Koreas had to go through three rounds of two-plus-two meetings to iron out and fine-tune the details of the joint press statement.<br /><br /> So here we have the final agreement.<br />The two Koreas are to hold the reunions of families separated by the Korean War... for seven days starting from August 20th at North Korea's Mount Kumgang.<br />There will be 100 participants each from South and North Korea.<br /> The two Koreas will keep communicating to confirm whose family members remain alive or not,... and exchange the final list of reunion participants on August 4th.<br /> An advance team will be dispatched from South Korea to North Korea's Mount Kumgang from five days before the reunions for prep work.<br />And the two Koreas will work to renovate the meeting rooms at Mount Kumgang -- for which the South will send inspection teams starting next Wednesday.<br /><br /> It's a concrete action plan adopted by the two Koreas two months after the inter-Korean summit talks in April -- there, the leaders of Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold the family reunions at around National Liberation Day, August 15th.<br /> This will be the first family reunion in three years -- since October 2015.<br />Seoul and Pyongyang are to hold hold additional Red Cross talks and working-level meetings to continue discussions on humanitarian issues including the family reunions.<br /><br /> But Daniel, it seems the two Koreas weren't able to touch upon... or narrow down gaps in views on other humanitarian issues -- namely, the release of South Korean detainees in the North or Seoul providing humanitarian assistance to Pyongyang through UN agencies.<br /> Today's joint press statement stipulates plans about the family reunions only.<br />Daniel. <br />
